User blog:Rgetar/Some facts about DNA
one base pair of DNA has length ~ 0.33 nanometers, mass ~ 1 zeptogram, and has 4 "states" (A-T, G-C, T-A, C-G), which can encode 2 bits. *diploid human genome has ~ 6 billions base pairs, length ~ 2 meters, mass ~ 6 picograms, and contains ~ 1.5 gigabytes of data. **diploid nuclear human genome consists of 46 DNA molecules. ***largest of them are in chromosomes 1 (~ 249 millions base pairs, ~ 8.5 centimeters, ~ 250 femtograms, ~ 62 megabytes). ***smallest of them are in chromosomes 21 (~ 47 millions base pairs, ~ 1.6 centimeters, ~ 50 femtograms, ~ 12 megabytes). ***human mitochondrial DNA is much less than any human nuclear DNA (16569 base pairs, ~ 5.4 micrometers, ~ 20 attograms, ~ 4 kilobytes). **female diploid human genome is 3 centimeters longer than of males, it is also ~ 100 femtograms heavier, contains ~ 100 millions more base pairs, and ~ 25 megabytes more data. It is due to the second X chromosome, which is ~ 3 times larger than Y chromosome. **length of diploid nuclear human genome is larger than average human height. *DNA of a human has ~ 20 sextillions base pairs, length ~ 6 terameters (~ 40 AU), mass ~ 20 grams, and contains ~ 4.5 zettabytes of data. **human body consists of ~ 30 trillions cells, but ~ 90 % of them are not nucleated and do not contain nuclear DNA (25 trillions red blood cells and 2 trillions platelets). **DNA of a human consists of ~ 140 trillions molecules of nuclear DNA and, possibly, few quadrillions of molecules of mitochondrial DNA. ***There are no nuclei and mitochondria in red blood cells, so they do not contain DNA. ***There are no nuclei in platelets, but they contain an average of ∼ 4 mitochondria, so they contain DNA. ***mitochondria can contain 2–10 copies of mitochondrial DNA (in average 2.6 per mitochondrion for mammalian species). So, a human contains few times more mitochondrial DNA molecules than mitochondria. ***various cell types contain different amount of mitochondria (~ 80-700 per cell or more). So, a human can contain hundreds trillions mitochondria with few mitochondrial DNA molecules in each. **in a human there are a bit more (~ 40 trillions) prokaryotic cells (including gut flora) than human cells. ***unlike human cells, all of them contain DNA. ***prokaryotic cells are much less than human cells, and theirs total mass in a human is ~ 200 grams. ***prokaryotic genomes are much less than human genome, so in a human there are ~ 10 times more human DNA than prokaryotic DNA. **length of DNA of a human is approximately equal to semi-major axis of Pluto orbit. **DNA of 4 humans has amount of data equal to size of all data digitized by 2018 (18 zettabytes). **human is made on ~ 0.03 % of DNA. *DNA of humanity has ~ 100 nonillions base pairs, length ~ 30 zettameters (3 millions light-years), mass ~ 100 kilotonnes, and contains ~ 25 millions yottabytes of data. **length of DNA of humanity is larger than distance between Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy (~ 2.5 millions light-years) *DNA of Earth biosphere has ~ 53 undecillions base pairs, length ~ 17500 yottameters (1.85 trillions light-years), mass ~ 50 gigatonnes, and contains ~ 12 trillions yottabytes of data. **Earth biosphere is made on ~ 1-5 % of DNA. **98 % of DNA of Earth biosphere is contained in plants (68 %) and prokaryotes (30 %). **length of DNA of Earth biosphere is ~ 20 times larger than diameter of observable universe (~ 880 yottameters or 93 billions light-years). I was going to post similar stuff about RNA, but I did not find enough data. Category:Blog posts